ICELANDIC SAGAS

Returning to Iceland in August of 2008 (just seven years after my first trip to Iceland), I decided to photograph the glaciers in color using the ultraviolet-light spectrum. This time I travelled east to the largest glacier in Iceland, Vatnajökull.

Renting an Arctic four-wheel-drive Land Cruiser, my icelandic guide and I  set out to photograph the magnificent snow drifts, as I had done on my trip in 2001. After traveling on the glacier the entire day, we found no snow, only ice imbedded with volcanic ash. Perhaps this was only true of the Vatnajökull glacier? I then returned to the Langjökull glacier, where I had photographed in 2001, only to find the same…no snow.

The images in Icelandic Sagas are the results of that trip.

Aerial views from the helicopter revealed years of snow melt. I could now view the frozen volcanic flow from 3500 years ago, as in “Surtur’s Battle.”

Global Warming is progressing rapidly. Predictions are that in 100 years all of the glaciers in Iceland will disappear. What effect will this phenomena have on the oceans, our food supply, the balance of nature?

All Images: 2008, C-Prints